I was overseas in the USAF when this song was a hit... I knew I'd be getting out in the seventh month ("summer") of my twenty-seventh, and probably to live somewhere I'd never been.... It kept me sane in the madness of the military... and life did indeed happen that way for me. This always will be among my very favorite.
Hello 👋 Marshell. How are you doing? Hope you are fine, I'm Mark Clifford and am from Denver Colorado. Where you are from? You seem like a real country girl
I was 17 and in 6th form and went home and CRIED. He is the reason I love music and I love the music I love, and I think why I love the USA and loved Colorado/ Montana before I ever saw them...I still play his music now if I'm having a bad day and it soothes me, likely he'll become the lullaby singer when I have kids!
my wife, my son, and I saw an eagle in north Alabama this Sunday morning. I thought about this song. I miss John Denver. I drove from here to the Rockys and back home, and with some dear souls, and we knew what he sang about.
John Denver was sorely underrated as a guitar player, and man look how brand new his custom-built Guild F50R guitar looks. That's the one most identified with him.
I wanted one all my life, but could never afford one, but finally got an F50R in my old age and now there's no one to play for, so no motivation to stay in practice. I guess life happens backwards for some of us.
Everyone has their own opinion about someone and in my eyes, heart and soul,no one in this world competes with a man as wonderful as John. My statement is that of my own personal experience with the man.
A baseball all star game was played this past week in COLORADO, and afterwards this lullaby came to me. .i haven't stopped listening to as many versions of COLORADO MOUNTAUN HIGH as i can find. .MESMERIZING..R.I.P. JOHN ..TY for tge memories.
Following my star, I left California for Colorado in 1972. Went to Colorado Springs, a childhood favorite spot, a stop on the way to Grandfather's house in Cheyenne from Amarillo, home town. Stopped by Cripple Creek on my way to Colorado Springs. The whole trip was moderated by John Denver and singing this song among others at the time. Never saw him, envy you that. His legacy lives and is renewed now with J legal in Colorado.
I wore glasses all of my teen years, I was very insecure for it. then I saw John singing about the outdoors and wearing eyeglasses. I love him pretty quick I miss him..what he would think of todays music and we still fighting each other
It’s cool to watch this and then watch the Wildlife Concert version years later. It shows true progression in a songwriters career and the mastery of years playing the same song. Every. Night.
This had to be real close to when Rocky Mountain High first came out. You can tell. JD actually looks a little nervous as though he's not got it down pat yet. A very lovely and accessible performance. Thanks for putting it up.
I remember how , days after John's death ( on Canadian Thanksgiving Day ), PBS showed "The Wildlife Concert." He had the audience in the palm of his hand ( standing ovation after "Rocky Mountain High.") I particularly loved "Back Home Again." Brought me back to grade 9 in 1974-75.
people don't know it now...but you could not escape John Denver anywhere for about 5 years in the mid-70s if you tried. he was everywhere and all the time. and you couldn't get a ticket to see him in concert, they were in such high demand. an incredible run. as a kid watching all this, i knew what I wanted to do, well...anyway he's the reason (like millions others) I've played guitar my entire life.
I was 13 when this song came out. Just the right age to tap in to a popular contemporary artist without having a parent dangle him in front of me and spend years trying to introduce and explain his music to me. I grew up in a very rual area. We were surrounded by hundreds of acres of wooded natural land. It was my playground all through my childhood. One day when I was 14, I walked to the spot my friends and I used to camp at. It was there one day I saw the 4ft tall wooden stakes with florescent orange ribbons on the tips that dotted a path through the woods. I knew there would be bulldozers and dump trucks soon. I angrily waded through the woods pulled each and every stake out and whipped them into the thick brush. Unfortunately the pipeline and road still came. So did the 10 acre lake and expensive homes. My childhood playground was gone for good in just a couple of years. Everytime I listen to Rocky Mountain High, the lines "Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more, more people more scars upon the land" takes me right back to that time period.
When I was just a youngin teen, I was into harder rock bands and music, as were my friends, and John Denver wasn't really considered 'IN' for us, but I always liked this song and definitely could appreciate the talent he had as a composer, musician and vocalist. There is HOPE for the youth/teens for as I matured, so did my musical tastes and now I enjoy such a much broader and diversified genre... :)
John was magnificent and in this early live version retaining all the extra guitar work which I miss big time in later renditions. Top notch Johnny D and friends
This performance was the first time my late Dad and i ever really connected over music, as we both sat watching it. That Christmas he asked for a best of cd, which i now have and reminds me of him ecery time i play it.
He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he'd never been before. He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again, you might say he found a key for every door. When he first came to the mountains, his life was far away on the road and hanging by a song. But the strings already broken and he doesn't really care, it keeps changing fast, and it don't last for long. And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky. The shadows from the starlight are softer than a lullaby. Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high. He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below, he saw everything as far as you can see. And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun, and he lost a friend, but kept the memory. Now he walks in quiet solitude, the forest and the streams, seeking grace in every step he takes. His sight is turned inside himself, to try and understand the serenity of a clear blue mountain lake. And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky. You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply. Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high. Now his life is full of wonder, but his heart still knows some fear, of a simple thing he can not comprehend. Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more, more people, more scars upon the land. And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky. I know he'd be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly, Rocky Mountain high, the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky. Friends around the campfire and everybody's high Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high. Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.
it was about getting high for me...ha ha now that was a life time ago i was a senior in high school in 1972 worried about Vietnam and loving this song and John Denver...and the first time my wife and I went to colorado in 1976 we then knew what he ment .....
Well, to John's fans that's true. Ask an Adele or Katy fan, and they might say "who's John Denver?" Relevance in the music world is in the eyes of the beholder. Only a handful of John's music has become "time withstanding" unfortunately. Country Roads, Jet Plane, RMH, Annie's Song and Sunshine to name 5 are still well known, especially Country Roads. Songs like Calypso and Looking For Space have become somewhat obscure, and "How Can I Leave You Again" is something very few knows exists.
He came in 4th place for solo artist selling albums. Elvis had 4 billion, M. Jackson had 750 Mil., Frank Sinatra had 150 Mil. the Great John Denver had 130 Million.
And oddly enough - Denver had 6 #1 hits - but is best known for Rocky Mountain High - which barely got into the top 10 - at #9!!!!!! His Greatest Hits album (released 1974) - redefined the music business - it was the first album to sell over 10,000,000 copies within 1 year of release!! RIAA changed a Gold record from 1,000,000 sales to 500,000 and added Platinum (over 1,000,000 sales within 1 year of release) and Diamond (over 10,000,000 sales within 1 year of release)!
John Denvers Colorado for me it was Aspen one of the best places in America in my day. skiing down Aspen Mountin with Rocky Mt. High playing through the headphones. A trip not to long ago left me appalled. Like all the wonderful places in America(example_ Los Angeles) New people flocked there and ruined the best part of it. Aspen was liberal but not the liberal we see today Today Liberal is tyranny, loss of freedom, and lunacy. We need more John Denvers.
Yet ,I know kids who listen to classic Rock, who've taken to John Denver, Merle Haggerd , George Jones , . It's Pop culture that takes the new music without influencing the older genuine musicianal type music into the mix. Everything today is Disney Produced or American Idol produced . If you don't have the look they're looking for or the attitude, your music isn't recorded . It's actually really sad. So kids listen to what Pop culture picks for them without the old .
It was banned by some radio stations, but that ban didn't last long, because I heard it on the radio constantly and into the 80s before current pop music started superceding music like John's and other oldies artists.
I think this is "In Concert" rather than Top of the Pops. The studio is a more subdued set and the audience tend to be sitting. TOTP2 played clips from all sorts of sources, as a big chunk of TOTP episodes were lost.
LOL... you have to get them custom made. I used to custom make shirts of this type, by the way. I also used to make custom western shirts and rodeo wear. I haven't done it in years now. But its cool stuff, huh?
His voice was softer and more youthful in the early years. As he got older "as with most of us" his voice got a little huskier sounding, He still sounded amazing in all cases, a shining example of fantastic later performance was Calypso at Cedar rapids 1987, he sounded completely ethereal during that performance, particularly the yodeling sections of the song.
I know this sounds crazy, but when I think about John Denver nowadays I don't think about his music, I think about the fact his life ended in tragedy and controversy-just as I do with the other John: John F. Kennedy. I really want to write a book about the 60's era (1963-84) because I've read several books and I don't feel that the the whole story has not been told-there are secrets that still hasn't been revealed. As what Rick Pearlstein wrote in "Nixonland": 'What did the 60's do to us?'
Ok who would be todays John Denver, I know in the land of Oz we have know one that comes near his ability to lay it on the line, what about in the US of A. It is John that is driving my 12 yr old to learn the guitar, cant wait until Troys voice breaks, another Denver? Maybe!!
